President Obama gets a lift from a relatively positive employment report for September. The nation gained 114,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate declined to 7.8 percent, the lowest since Obama took office. Earlier disappointing figures were revised upwards, by 40,000 for July and 45,000 for August.

All this gives Obama some bragging rights, and heads off what would have been a withering attack had the news been bad.

But Obama makes a mistake by emphasizing what the progress the economy is making. Median household incomes are down, young people face rough going as they enter the job market, and the elderly have dwindling pension coverage and almost no returns on their savings in a zero interest rate environment.

It would be much better to emphasize the mess that he inherited from the Republicans, the fact that every effort he has made to produce a stronger recovery has been blocked by the opposition, and the dismal 30-year trend of worsening inequality and rising insecurity.

The numbers are good, but far from good enough. And the voters know it.

About the Author

Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, a professor at Brandeis University's Heller School, and a distinguished senior fellow of the think tank Demos. He was a longtime columnist for Business Week and continues to write columns in TheBoston Globe. He is the author of Obama's Challenge and other books.